


Holding Out For A(nother) Hero

by WahtaOwl



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Annabeth Chase wears glasses, Annabeth is Spider-woman because of reasons, Couple's Questionnaire, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gaea is the main villain, New game: how many tropes can I fit in one fic?, Not much plot, Pining, Piper's superhero name is made up, So much blushing, Sort Of, and roommates, but lots of mutual pining, theyre also college students
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 12:19:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18365891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WahtaOwl/pseuds/WahtaOwl
Summary: Annabeth’s cheeks flushed. She hadn’t realized they were being that obvious. She didn’t even know how to begin to tell her parents that she was a superhero.“It’s not what you think?” she tried.“Nonsense.” her father said. “Why would you think you had to hide your relationship with Piper from us?”“We’re your family!” her stepmother added.“What? I mean… yes. I’m dating Piper.” Annabeth said quickly.How had she not seen it? This was so much easier than admitting she was Spider-woman! And all she had to was pretend to date her best friend and secret crush! Oh god. This was so much harder. How was she going to explain this to Piper?Or, Pipabeth are superheroes who pretend to date to hide their civilian identities.





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Me: *has multiple unfinished works*
> 
> Also me: Wow what a great time to start ANOTHER multichaptered fic!

Annabeth pushed her glasses up and continued to read her book. It was the most effective way to avoid her stepmom's awkward attempts at small talk. They’d gotten closer, but it was almost like she didn't know what to do with Annabeth anymore, now that she was usually at college.

“So...” her stepmom interrupted, “how's college going?”

Annabeth sighed and shut her book. “Fine. I'm renting an apartment with my friend Piper this year.”

She checked her phone as her stepmom eagerly nodded. Luckily she had a text from Piper. Unfortunately it was because she was having trouble with some of Gaiea's minions. 

“Ummm... I need to leave early. A friend accidentally downloaded a virus on her laptop again and I need to help her fix it.” Annabeth explained. 

“...Alright. Will you be back for dinner? Your father and I are SO excited to have you home!” her stepmom asked. 

“Yeah, I wouldn't miss seeing everyone again!” 

That said, Annabeth quickly gathered up her things and was out the door as fast as possible. As soon as she was out of eyesight from neighbors or her family, she slipped into her superhero costume. 

Annabeth was known as the superhero Spider-woman. When she had discovered her powers she had decided to make them seem even more spider-like than they actually were so she could overcome her fear of them. It had helped, but Piper still teased her for always suggesting that they burn down their apartment whenever she finds a spider. 

Piper thought the city's superhero name for herself, The Pied Piper, was hilarious and insisted on using it for the pun. Annabeth always teased that she was going to get caught. But Piper's mind control would always prevent either of their identities from being discovered. She never used it out of battle, and even then she was a proficient fighter.

Annabeth quickly webs her way over to the park where Piper had spotted the horde of karpoi. Piper was stabbing them as fast as she could but they were reforming quickly.

They manage to finally chase away the karpoi when Annabeth set one on fire. They then high-five and do a quick clean-up before heading off to finish patrol. Annabeth had created a careful schedule at first, but one of them would always tag along on the others turn so they settled for notifications for news shows and twitter alerts, and just patrolled whenever one of them was free to. 

Piper drove Annabeth back to her family's house as thanks for webbing over so quickly. Annabeth was happy to spend any time with Piper, so the drive passed quickly. 

She got back just in time for family dinner.

Annabeth hung up her coat and scarf calling out, “Bye Pipes!” before she shut the door.

Instantly her stepmom pounces on her. “Was that Piper? She was lovely when we met her last year! Was she the one with the virus problem?”

“Virus problem?” Annabeth asks. “Oh... yeah we fixed it and went on a drive around the city.”

“You sure do spend a lot of time with her.” Annabeth's dad commented.

Annabeth frowned. “Of course I do, we're living together.”

“What Frederick is meaning to say,” Annabeth's stepmom said, “is that we’ve noticed that you two tend to disappear together at odd times. And... I’m sorry, are you wearing a different shirt?”

Annabeth’s cheeks flushed. She hadn’t realized they were being that obvious. She didn’t even know how to begin to tell her parents that she was a superhero. She crossed her arms to try to hide the fact that she had accidentally grabbed Piper’s flannel instead of her own button-up.

“It’s not what you think?” she tried.

“Nonsense.” her father said. “Why would you think you had to hide your relationship with Piper from us?”

“What? I mean… yes. I’m dating Piper.” Annabeth said quickly.

How had she not seen it? This was so much easier than admitting she was Spider-woman! And all she had to was pretend to date her best friend and secret crush! Oh god. This was so much harder. How was she going to explain this to Piper?

“Invite her over to dinner tomorrow!” Annabeth’s stepmom said, eager to show her support. 

Annabeth quickly agreed and excused herself, already dialing Piper.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Houston we have a problem, my parents almost found out!”

“Oh my gosh, I take it you managed to change their minds?” Piper asked.

“Yeah, about that… I did, but I had to convince them of something else instead.” Annabeth said nervously.

“Whatever it is can’t be that bad!” Piper reassured her.

“We kind of… havetopretendtodate!” Annabeth answered quickly. “Also I have your shirt.”

Piper’s end of the phone went silent.

“Piper? Are you okay? I can tell them something else.”

“No its fine. We can pretend to date.” she said cheerily.

“Cool cool cool. Oh! You’re invited to family dinner tomorrow night.” Annabeth said, hoping it wasn’t a deal breaker.

Luckily Piper agreed to come and they made plans for tomorrow afternoon. Annabeth sighed. She had just accepted that the crush did in fact exist and wasn’t going away any time soon and now this had to happen?

Stupid Piper and her stupid fluffy hair and sparkly eyes and her stupid smile that made Annabeth’s heart skip a beat. This was totally her fault.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm also on tumblr @wahta-owl. Come talk to me there!


	2. The Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth and Piper answer couples questions

Annabeth met Piper in the outskirts of San Francisco the next afternoon for patrol. 

“Hey! About dinner tonight… what are some things I should know about you now that we’re dating?” Piper asked.

Annabeth’s heart fluttered at that but she quickly pulled out her phone and started googling. “Pick a number… um… under 50?”

“Hmmm. 15?”

“Ok… What is your dream career?” Annabeth read off of the screen.

“I’ll probably be a lawyer or psychologist.” Piper offered. “And I know you’ve always wanted to be an architect.” 

“Yeah.” Annabeth smiled. “It’s really interesting! I want to build something that’s going to last forever.”

“That’s really cool.” Piper laughed. I just want to understand people’s brains better!”

She took the phone from Annabeth. “You pick one now. Try to choose a harder one than I did.”

“6?”

“What nicknames does your partner hate to be called?” Piper read.

“Hmmm. Well, you’re touchy about who can call you Pipes.”

“That’s the nickname my dad always uses. And you don’t like being called Annie.” Piper replied.

“It just feels wrong! I put up with AB though. But only for you.” Annabeth said.

“Aw, babe.” Piper said, smiling.

“OK NEXT QUESTION!” Annabeth said flushing bright red.

Piper grinned, smugly.

“Laugh it up, honey.” Annabeth said, and smirked when Piper ducked her head, cheeks hot.

“Alright, let’s go with 22.” Piper replied.

“Where would you love to travel someday?” Annabeth read.

“Oh that’s a hard one. I’ve traveled lots of places with my dad. Hmmm. France, I guess? I can speak French, so most I should probably consider it.”

Annabeth shrugged. “Maybe Greece? It has a lot of famous architecture. Besides, my mom was greek and I used to be really invested in the myths when I found out.” Annabeth said, shrugging.

“That’s… really cute actually. Wow. My reason sounds kind of stupid now.” Piper laughed sheepishly. “Next question?”

“Next question. 13?”

“How do you spend the holidays?” 

“Oh wow. I used to spend most of them camping with Luke and Thalia. I don’t really celebrate them unless I go home, where we have every tradition imaginable. Last Christmas was fun though.” Annabeth answered.

“Takeout and making fun of Hallmark movies was fun? But yeah, my dad wasn’t always home for the holidays so I didn’t always celebrate them either.” Piper said sadly.

“Well that’s another thing we have in common. A sad thing, but still.” Annabeth said. “Now pick another number!”

“33!”

“O...kay. What are you most afraid of?” Annabeth read and winced.

“You hate spiders.” Piper said immediately.

“Hey!” Annabeth protested. “They’re creepy! And I’m Spiderwoman, it’s not like someone’s going to use a spider as a weapon against me!”

Noticing Piper’s amusement, she added, “Well what about you, huh?”  
“I’m... “ she swallowed. “Afraid of failing to protect people I care about.”

Annabeth took Piper’s hand comfortingly. “Well, we can add that to the similarities list, I’m afraid of failure.”

Piper smiled down at their interwoven fingers. “I’ll stomp all the spiders for you.”

“And I’ll always have your back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be the dinner!
> 
>  
> 
> Follow my tumblr @wahta-owl. I'm more active on there.


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